New York, New York
Three months ago, almost to the day, I and two friends arrived in New York. We were to be in Columbia University for 8 weeks for a research programme.
That was three months ago. Tonight, we are going out to remember the big city. "She is like a lady who demands to be embraced," said someone. We will remember her in all her honeyed sandstone eminence, in all her granite grit and mouthy manners. We miss her a lot. We think of her all the time. It is like Love, but it is more likely Liberty.
Why?
Because, unlike Singapore, she is a Lady.
Somewhere out there, on the 20th floor of East Campus Residential, I experienced some sort of apotheosis. Well, not quite a transformation unto godhood, but perhaps more an apocalypsis, an unveiling. We are all made in God's image, says God. Well, then we all seek to establish ourselves as gods. We can't manage it because we lack infinite resources, hence merely g and not G. The former is a variable, the latter is a constant for a given locus in spacetime. Or in the snowflake.
And so, I know that we are all Powers. Some greater, some lesser. The difference isn't one of degree, but one of capacity and potential. A Greater Power may have a lot of resources but not use them; a Lesser Power may become great given time. At the very least, we are Least Powers. Angels must all be Lesser Powers; they can probably use all their resources but can never aspire to the exalted place of Man. Or so their own boss's Manual says.
What I find interesting is that this Manual is consistent to a large extent. True, it may have odd (humanly-speaking) premises. But within the terms of those premises, it has a pretty consistent theology (or two). But that's a topic for a later date. For now, we remember the Lady, Love and Liberty. We remember December on its own, because in December, there is Noel.
That was three months ago. Tonight, we are going out to remember the big city. "She is like a lady who demands to be embraced," said someone. We will remember her in all her honeyed sandstone eminence, in all her granite grit and mouthy manners. We miss her a lot. We think of her all the time. It is like Love, but it is more likely Liberty.
Why?
Because, unlike Singapore, she is a Lady.
Somewhere out there, on the 20th floor of East Campus Residential, I experienced some sort of apotheosis. Well, not quite a transformation unto godhood, but perhaps more an apocalypsis, an unveiling. We are all made in God's image, says God. Well, then we all seek to establish ourselves as gods. We can't manage it because we lack infinite resources, hence merely g and not G. The former is a variable, the latter is a constant for a given locus in spacetime. Or in the snowflake.
And so, I know that we are all Powers. Some greater, some lesser. The difference isn't one of degree, but one of capacity and potential. A Greater Power may have a lot of resources but not use them; a Lesser Power may become great given time. At the very least, we are Least Powers. Angels must all be Lesser Powers; they can probably use all their resources but can never aspire to the exalted place of Man. Or so their own boss's Manual says.
What I find interesting is that this Manual is consistent to a large extent. True, it may have odd (humanly-speaking) premises. But within the terms of those premises, it has a pretty consistent theology (or two). But that's a topic for a later date. For now, we remember the Lady, Love and Liberty. We remember December on its own, because in December, there is Noel.
etched with acid at 10:43:00 pm
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